


The Marvels of the West Wing

by JOBrien42



Series: West Wing Marvels [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The West Wing
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 01:37:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16985658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JOBrien42/pseuds/JOBrien42
Summary: What if the events of the West Wing happened in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?





	1. A Tony Stark Sized Headache

“The truth is… I am Iron Man.”

Josh Lyman stared at the TV, and then brought his hands up to rub his eyes against the incipient Tony Stark sized headache that was about to descend.

There was a knock on the door, and Margaret poked her head in. “I have Senator Stern on line three for you.”

“Less two minutes,” the White House Chief of Staff said. “Glad to know I’m on his speed dial.” He picked up the phone and pressed the flashing line indicated.

“Lyman, you better get your boy on Stark’s ass ten minutes ago!” came the angry voice of the Senator from Pennsylvania.

“Senator, always a pleasure,” he replied, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his free hand. “But that’s _President Santos_ , and not ‘my boy’, and I will thank you to remember that.”

“I’m serious, Josh. Stark says he’s pulling out of weapons manufacturing - thank God Stane and the board stepped in there - and all the while he’s hiding this… Iron Man… thing from us? We need this technology before the Russians or Chinese get it.”

“I’m serious too, Senator Stern, and I assure you there will be a meeting in the Sit Room as soon as we have more information than a thirty second CNN sound bite,” he said in a biting tone. “And, y’know, here’s a thought, you and the rest of the blowhards on the Armed Services Committee could, and I’m just spitballing here, do your damn job and call hearings or subpoena him instead of crying to the White House that the kid down the block isn’t sharing his toys with you.”

The Senator hung up on him. He despised Stern, and wondered if there was someone the Democrats could run against him in the Keystone state when he came up for reelection in a couple years. He jotted a note down to have Sam look at that later.

The smug snake had a point, though. Stark Industries getting out of weapons was a significant hit to national security - President Santos had suggested to him that the superior firepower the U.S. had been able to deploy, much of it Stark tech, had played no small part in forcing the agreement between Russia and China in Kazakhstan. Having to settle for Raytheon or Hammer Industries would give the Joint Chiefs conniptions. And this Iron Man suit - yeah, that was going to be a problem.

And with the midterms were less than two weeks away, no less. 

His finger stabbed the intercom button, the one Donna insisted he use instead of properly yelling for his assistant’s attention as God intended. “Margaret? How bad?”

Her voice came back, “Three senators, two congressmen and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs would all like to talk to you. And four lines just started flashing.”

“Give me the Chairman, tell the others I’ll get back to them,” he told her.

“General O’Donnell on two,” Margaret said.

Josh stared at the blinking light for a moment. He pressed the intercom again. “Margaret, can you see if you can get Donna for me? I’m going to have to cancel lunch.” He looked again at the phone were every line was now flashing accusingly at him. “And probably dinner,” he sighed.


	2. The Perils of Egomaniacal Geniuses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donna Moss and Pepper Potts met at a campaign event and have stayed in touch, so the First Lady's Chief of Staff reaches out after Tony's unexpected confession.

“I understand,” Donna said, hearing the regret in Josh's voice, “I love you too, and I’ll let you make it up to me later.” She put the phone down and started cursing at the idea of Tony Stark, his ego, and his plans-canceling press conference. 

She’d met the man during the primary campaign at a fundraiser for Bob Russell. Stark had swaggered in, flirted with her for few minutes, but soon found she was shockingly uninterested. He took it in stride, however, and had even seemed impressed that she’d rebuffed his advances, enough that he’d directed her to his assistant, Ms. Potts, to get a donation for the Vice President. 

“Turned him down, I see?” Pepper said.

“I feel a bit like a prostitute in reverse,” Donna admitted, “Getting the money for refusing…”

Pepper smiled, “I’m impressed. He can be very charming. To be honest I thought I’d be sending you off in the morning with a lovely parting gift.”

“Fortunately for me,” Donna said, “At this time, I am entirely immune to the blandishments of charming egomaniacal geniuses, and the donation is what I was sent here for, not a tumble with a playboy billionaire.”

Donna felt uncomfortable under Pepper’s appraising look, feeling that this woman was looking straight through her and could see the Joshua Lyman-shaped hole in her heart. In the end, though, Ms. Potts handed her a check for the legal maximum, and her card. “You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, Ms. Moss. If politics - or those who ply the trade - get to be too much, and you find yourself wondering about the private sector, feel free to give me a call.”

While that was Donna’s only interaction with Mr. Stark - he’d thrown his support behind Vinick in the Presidential campaign - she had interacted with Ms. Potts from time to time. 

There had been a Women in Technology speech in San Diego that Mrs. Santos had done in the run up to the election. The two ended up making small talk over drinks, and Pepper had learned the name of the egomaniacal genius that caused Donna such frustration after he’d called her three times during the event. 

After the election, Pepper had strong armed some of the women executives in Silicon Valley to make pledges to help bring high speed internet and computers to underprivileged schools as part of the First Lady’s Education Initiative, and had congratulated Donna on the cover of _Time_ that she’d shared with her fellow Chief-of-Staff. 

She looked at the card Pepper had given her those years ago, with her private number, and began to dial.

“Hello, you’ve reached the cell phone of Ms. Potts,” came a somewhat familiar - but male - voice. “Pepper is currently unavailable.”

“Oh,” said Donna. Where had she heard that voice before? “Could you let her know that Donna Moss-Lyman called, from the office of the First Lady?”

There was a brief pause. “I’ll be happy to relay that, ma’am. Ms. Potts is currently engaged in some delicate negotiations with Mr. Stark, and they may take some time.”

“Well, be sure to convey my best wishes for her dealings with that particular egomaniacal genius.”

“I’ll pass those along as well, Mrs. Moss-Lyman.”

“Thank you.” She put the handset back in the cradle. 

Two minutes later it struck her where she’d heard that voice. _What the hell was Special Agent Mike Casper doing with Pepper’s cell phone?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Donna and Pepper, both long suffering assistants to brilliant, arrogant men, both growing beyond those roles professionally and personally. Yeah, they'd be best friends.
> 
> I've been going back and forth between two endings to this. Went with the Casper/Coulson option.

**Author's Note:**

> Iron Man, at least according to the Marvel timeline, takes place between February and October 25th, 2008, which would put it in the middle of President Santos's first term. These should be short little stories just to imagine how events would play out. All because Mike Casper is Phil Coulson, dangit.


End file.
